In-Person & Online 3-Part NYC Mentorship with Steve Simon: You Pick The Date.

Personal Mentorship Photographic Workshop with Steve Simon

The key to the mentorship mentorship workshop is maximizing our time by combining online meetings with an amazing shoot day.  The physical shooting experience in New York City can make a profound impact when it comes to your photographic proficiency and portfolio.

1. Online Portfolio Review & Consultation

The workshop begins with an in-depth, one-on-one online portfolio review with renowned photographer Steve Simon. You’ll submit up to 1,000 of your images, and Steve will meticulously sift through your work, selecting the strongest pieces. During the online meeting, he will discuss his selections, offering valuable insights on your style, strengths, and areas for improvement. This session is designed to provide clarity and direction in your photographic journey, helping you understand your creative voice and how to refine your skills. We do a "tech check" to discuss gear and best ways to use it regardless of your system brand. We make tweaks to enhance your speed of response which might include back button autofocus, Auto ISO, Easy Exposure Compensation, frame rate and playback options along with other best practices designed to simplify your process and build muscle memory so the technical fades to the background and you increase you success rate. 

We then discuss  what to expect to get the most out of our New York City shoot when you arrive on location. 

2. In-Person New York City Photo Shoot

Following the portfolio review, you’ll meet Steve in the vibrant streets of New York City for an immersive, hands-on photo shoot. Steve will guide you to some of the city’s most photogenic and iconic locations—both well-known landmarks and hidden gems—offering real-time advice on composition, lighting, and storytelling. This is a unique opportunity to experience New York with an experienced photographer and educator while honing your photographic skills in one of the world’s most dynamic cities. It's an ambitious itinerary designed to maximize your learning experience and your ability to create a unique and powerful portfolio of imagery. 

3. Post-Workshop Online Critique & Lecture

After the photo shoot, the mentorship continues with a final online session where Steve will review the images you’ve captured in New York. During this critique, he will offer personalized feedback on your progress, helping you understand what worked, what could be improved, and how to apply these lessons to your future work. The session concludes with a lecture on advanced techniques and tips to keep pushing your boundaries as a photographer. This tailored guidance ensures you leave the workshop not only with a stronger portfolio but also with new skills and confidence to elevate your craft.

An Intensive & Transformational Shooting Experience

This will be an intimate masterclass where we explore some of the best photo opportunities, personalized for you and the time you visit New York City.

We will curate this day together sometimes altering between spectacular and iconic New York photo opportunities like The Oculus or Grand Central Station with the usual vibrant, visually rich places and neighborhoods New York is famous for. New Yorker Steve Simon will take you to these and other hidden gems.

Once in New York, we have our meet, greet and brief lecture and then hit the streets with an ice-breaking photo-walk. Locations may include:  High Line Park, Harlem, Fifth Avenue & 57 Street, Grand Central Station, Brooklyn Bridge, Chinatown, Little Italy and the Lower East Side, Union Square, Washington Square Park, Ground Zero, The Oculus and Times Square,.

We shoot in and around the Hudson Yards, as well as taking in the unique and new view of the city at The Edge. Eventually we head to our special dinner location The Electric Lemon, a true New York City culinary event. The atmosphere is stunning; food is absolutely delicious and it’s quiet enough for great conversation.

"Electric Lemon, a seasonal American restaurant, celebrates the passionate farmers, growers and artisans of the Mid-Atlantic, transforming their pristine products into clean, conscious cuisine that puts flavor at the forefront. Offering stunning views from the 24th floor of the Equinox Hotel, located within New York City's Hudson Yards, Electric Lemon's sleek, expansive dining room and serene al fresco terrace make up the ideal multi-use, day-to-night setting. 

Street Philosophies

Steve will help and encourage you to find your own unique vision through assignments created to get you past photographic fears and cliches to capturing lyrical, poetic and decisive moments that communicate the energy of the city. 

All levels of photographic experience can benefit from this workshop. You’ll learn about the “rhythm of place” and you will discuss the laws and ethics of street photography as well as dealing with difficult situations that might pop up.

You will define a strategy for capturing the rich daily life of people, overcoming fears and shyness, approaching strangers, framing, juxtaposition, layering your compositions, letting the image come to you and whether color or black and white best suits your vision. And you will have fun!

Street Tech

We will talk urban-tech with Steve giving you his minimalist view on gear along with simplified shooting processes to maximizing your response time to capture decisive moments. Steve’s street tools include Nikon mirrorless cameras along with a carefully curated selection of lenses. He is also familiar with a wide range of equipment to help you maximize your mirrorless, compact, rangefinder, DSLR or even your camera phone for compelling urban images. Though our focus is on vision more than gear, we will talk lenses, auto focus, zone focusing, shooting form the hip, using live view, flash, camera support and tripods and a host of other tips, tricks, distractions and ideas that will improve your work dramatically. Steve will also go over his post-process workflow in Lightroom.

It’s a street, urban-travel photography mentorship but the lessons learned will benefit you in all genres of image-making and help you to create a compelling New York City portfolio.

Testimonials

While putting together my street photography book, I felt I needed an editor that I could trust because I knew they would be helping me with my decision-making process.  I was familiar with Steve Simon because I used to listen to ‘This Week In Photography’ religiously when I first started getting into taking pictures.  He was my favorite personality on the show because he always seemed to have such a thoughtful and empathetic angle to the topics of the day.  That lead me to read his book, “The Passionate Photographer,” (also great) and I have tried to incorporate what I learned from it into my approach as an artist.  Finally, it was Steve’s eye and impressive work as a street photographer himself that solidified my choice to use him as a consultant for my project.

I’m so glad that I did!  Steve was as gracious and thoughtful as I always imagined he would be.  He was able to look at my work and shake up how I viewed it.  I told him all sorts of wild theories and wonky philosophies about how I saw my work, and he as able to sort through all the fluff and get me to focus on the core of my message.  He did this with sensitivity and tact.

And through it all, he was more amiable and responsive as I could have reasonably expected.  I ended up paying for five separate sessions because his input was that valuable.  Our conversations allowed me to save countless hours debating random minutiae with myself (that would have probably ended up nowhere and being a big waste of time), and our time together fostered an accelerated growth in me as an artist.  In less than a month of interaction, I feel like I am in an entirely different place as a photographer, and I feel that Steve is a significant reason for that. 

I can’t recommend Steve highly enough!

Tony Le

I started working with Steve because I wanted to move from making individual pictures to working on photographic projects. Our first couple of sessions had an immediate impact on my photography in two ways.  First, Steve looked at a sample of my work, selected several strong images, and showed me what made them work.  We also talked about the images that didn’t work as well.  We dug into my picture making process and explored what I could do differently to increase the number of strong images I make. The sessions are interactive, so I can ask questions to be sure I understand Steve’s feedback.  Second, Steve looked at the strong images as a group and showed me how they could be the start of a coherent body of work. I really appreciate that he helped me begin to identify and develop my personal vision.  HIs questions and comments helped me sharpen the focus on what my project can be. In each session, Steve’s thoughtful suggestions and encouragement are helping me make steady progress on my goal of being a better photographer.  

Larry Felton

Steve Simon is a gifted instructor and also has the amazing ability to help you understand what you have unconsciously captured but may not have seen. You can then embrace that visual voice/style with direction and clarity. He is genuine and focused on your growth as a photographer … which is why I and so many others come back to his workshops and mentoring sessions.

Denise Pensky

It is said that people tend to emotionally support and defend that which they have created. Nowhere is that truer than for photographers in the pursuit of intended audiences for their photographs. We can subconsciously become prejudiced arbitrators when it comes to evaluating, editing, selecting and sequencing our own images. The private mentorship and critique sessions I’ve participated in with Steve Simon have been invaluable in helping me to cast off the emotional baggage attached to my photos allowing me to see them as they are and how they may relate to each other to form coherent collections greater than the sum of their parts. 

 Owen Seidenberg

I would never be where I am professionally without great mentoring.  Thus, I knew the very best way for the quality of my photography to progress was to find an exceptional photographer as a mentor. Steve Simon has delivered big time…..with insight, skill, incredible editing ability and, of course, passion for the art.  Give him a try, it is a great investment.  

Jeff Carson

I participated in one of Steve’s Havana workshops, and recently had a online zoom discussion with him.  He has a comprehensive knowledge of Nikon’s equipment as well as the best photographic techniques to capture great images. Moreover, he is an easy and fun guy to talk with because, clearly, he is genuinely interested in helping others enjoy photography.   

Stephen Handley

“What a fabulous experience. I learned more about photography in one week than I had in 5 years. Steve is very knowledgable about the technical side as well as composition. He is very patient, gives excellent feedback and will work one on one with you on any photography subject you want. I asked him for help on night photography and at 10 PM he was out on the streets of Havana with me with step by step instructions on how to take the shot. 5 star plus rating!!”

Gary Niederpruem, Chicago

“Best workshop I’ve ever taken! Steve is not only a great photographer, he is also a terrific teacher. He is patient and very hands- on. In some workshops the instructor sends students out to shoot after a short lecture–Steve goes out with his students, coaching them throughout the process. His course is well organized and covers diverse topics. He is funny and engaging and generous with his time and knowledge. I had SO MUCH fun and am ready to sign up for the next one. Highly recommended!”

Anna Blanco, New York City

"My week in Steve’s Street Shooting workshop challenged me tremendously. There’s nothing like taking your work apart and putting it back together with new vision to make you a better photographer. If you take this workshop, I guarantee you will see the world differently at the end."

Anne Dunford, Ithaca, New York

"Steve’s passion for photography is contagious and his teaching abilities and knowledge extraordinary! I highly recommend this workshop to anyone interested in photography."

Paul Lavergne, San Juan, PR

“Participating in the NYC Street Photography Workshop was an enriching and exhilarating experience. It challenged me to step out of my comfort zone to improve my skills. Steve’s curriculum and hands on approach offered me an opportunity to learn new techniques, add some creativity and visualize subject matter from another perspective. Each day presented abundant photo opportunities, resulting with the capture of some amazing images, exceeding my greatest expectations.”

Chapman Solomon, Mountain View, CA

"Not only is Steve a great photographer, he is also a caring, compassionate person as well. He is constantly trying to help participants achieve their photographic goals in a gentle, caring, and sincere manner. Sadly, the critiques of my work were very helpful. Steve was right-on in terms of his suggestions to better my work. The totality of the workshop was terrific, primarily because the parts were all excellent as well. Choice of shooting locations, image reviews, suggestions, videos shown, and galleries visited were all great. Steve also promoted wonderful interactions among the participants. The venue was perfect for the workshop. We could spread out, leave our things there, use the facilities, and eat the goodies provided. You know you’re in good hands with Steve! An outstanding workshop!"

Stephen Sholl, New York City

"This is an outstanding workshop, led by a world-class photographer. It is impossible to spend time in a room with Steve Simon and not be inspired to get out there and make great images …I had high expectations and you exceeded them…Steve is very personable, articulate and passionate about photography, very welcoming with a warm, engaging personality. Steve’s style is outstanding. I knew of Steve from the TWiP podcast and would have attended if he was talking about how to watch paint dry…”

Steve Lavelle, London

"I just spent the last three days with Steve Simon, What a wonderful experience, the best time spent in a workshop ever. Steve is a perfectionist, every presentation not only had spectacular photography but also the perfect music to enhance the mood, a roller coaster of emotions. He cannot hide his journalistic background every single image tells a story. His technique is flawless; his teaching patience unparalleled. I am eager to start a new chapter of my photography applying what Steve taught me in the last few days."

Oscar Piñeyro, Dallas